In former times, buildings commonly featured ornamental cut stone door and window frames, in relief on the facade, as well as cornices, consoles, banisters, balconies and other decorative structures in cut stone. Virtually all of these decorative elements have been eliminated from the architecture of recent decades; moreover, the present-day cost of producing such articles by the traditional method would be prohibitive.
It has been suggested (U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,945) that the entrance to a house be decorated by mounting on the facade blocks of moulded fibre glass consisting of two base pieces flanking the doorway and two pilasters with capitals, surmounted by a pediment. However, according to this former solution, this entire decoration rests on the ground, and simple braces hold the constituent elements against the wall without, however, supporting their weight.
Yet another solution proposes the prefabricated panels supported by stay rods be placed in front of the facade of a building, leaving an insulating space between panels and facade. This entails constructing a "sandwich" wall; the stay rods are attached to the facade, descend diagonally inside the hollow space of the "sandwich", and are attached to the bottom of the panels. Obviously, such a solution could not achieve the aim of the present invention, which provides a new solution whereby the facades (or even internal walls) of buildings may be decorated in relief, using reasonably priced means which nevertheless confer the aesthetically satisfying appearance of "old" buildings.